Crack
by Athena13
Summary: PatrickRobin: in a game of no strings addicting as crack sex, who cracks first?
1. Chapter 1

**Crack**  
By Athena13

**Summary:** In a game of no-strings addicting-as-crack-cocaine sex, who cracks first?

* * *

**One**

Life was good for Dr. Patrick Drake. He was back on the top of his surgical game. His relationship with his father was mending more with every day, owing mainly to Patrick's upbeat mood of late. Gorgeous women were still throwing themselves at him. And there was one who was all his, in a no-strings, mind-bending sex kind of way. His favorite way, in fact. Man, he licked his lips as his mind drifted back to his last encounter with Robin, they were incredible together. It was in their favorite linen closet on the eleventh floor just fifteen minutes ago and he was already wanting his hands all over her petite, well-formed body again.

"_I might have the emotional maturity of a senior in high school," he said in between thrusts. "But aren't you glad I also have the libido of one?" _

"_Uh huh. Stop talking." She arched into him and dug her fingers into his still-clothed back._

It took months but Dr. Robin Scorpio had finally succumbed to his charm and looks. He knew it was only a matter of time all along, but it hadn't been easy. He had never, in fact, worked this hard to be with a woman. They had been having their not-so-secret affair for a month now and rather than getting tired of her, it seemed like his desire to be with her only increased. And it wasn't just sexual. When she wasn't being judgmental and high-minded, Robin was a lot of fun to be around. And the surprises, Patrick chuckled to himself as he walked down the hospital hallway, oblivious to the stares his giddy behavior elicited, just last night he had discovered that Robin was a good bowler. Despite the fact that she was barely bigger than a bowling ball herself.

Just when he was rounding the corner he heard her voice and stopped just out of sight. He bit his lip and considered the various options at his disposal for flustering the normally staid Dr. Robin Scorpio. They had agreed to keep their affair, however long it lasted, under covers, so to speak, at work, but that didn't mean that he couldn't try to make her blush with seemingly innocuous comments as long as she wasn't with a patient. To his utter glee Robin had begun to strike back in the same vein. Yes, working with Robin was getting more fun by the day.

He bit his lip and grinned in anticipation, he had the perfect zinger. Before he walked a step he heard something that stopped him in his tracks.

"Have you thought about moving to Rome, then?" Jax asked his old friend.

"Ever since she moved there." Robin sighed and clutched the patient chart she was carrying more tightly against her body. "I love Rome, I'd be closer to Brenda, not far from Mom and I have career opportunities there."

Patrick's jaw dropped. "How could she be thinking that?" he asked in his head. No-strings, the word echoed in his mind. His brow furrowed and he took a step back, then another. Unaccountably angry he spun on his heel and walked back the way he came.

"But you're not going to do it, are you?" Jax asked as the two friends continued their conversation unaware they had been overheard. "Not with that glow that's been around you since, oh, a certain time in a cabin that I own."

Robin blushed and looked down. "I'm happy to be back in Port Charles, it has nothing to do with Patrick Drake. Well, not entirely." Robin frowned and looked back up at Jax. "I told you that he and I aren't serious."

"How long are you going to keep that pretense up, Robin?" Jax asked, his voice filled with the concern he'd felt for his friend ever since he'd found her in a compromising position with the lothario.

"How long are you going to keep asking me that?" Robin shook her head and smiled, her mussed hair swinging around her head.

"Maybe you're not the one I should be asking. Whenever I've seen Dr. Drake around the hotel he's been looking rather, um, smug. Maybe I should talk to..."

"Don't you dare, Jasper Jax!" Robin's eyes flashed. "Don't you dare talk to him about me. It's bad enough my father runs around town bandying about words like intentions and love."

"Daddy knows best." Jax grinned smugly.

Robin sighed, knowing that Jax was partially playing on his role as little John's father, a role that Robin knew he had no biological right to play. But with Helena back in town, Robin was determined not to create a situation more out of hand than it was. "I highly doubt that and I need to get back to work." Robin held up her patient chart.

"Fine since I have to get back to the hospital board meeting anyway. You still owe me a dinner date."

"Which I'm sure your girlfriend would love if I paid up on." Robin rolled her eyes and tried to score the mental picture of Jax and the devious witch Carly kissing from her brain.

Jax rolled his eyes and leaned down to give Robin a peck on the cheek.

Robin watched him go and shook her head. Everyone kept giving her advice about her "relationship" with Patrick, but frankly she was more than satisfied with the status quo and had no intentions of changing a thing for however long it lasted.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**I forgot to mention this story is for mature readers since it deals with sex and its aftermath. The language is not candy-coated.**

**Two**

Patrick strode towards the nurse's station his mind still whirling from what he had just heard. Robin couldn't be, wouldn't be moving to Rome without talking to him first. Not to mention the fact, he told himself, she would have to be thinking and planning it for months before she did anything. Unless, another voice piped in, she had already been thinking about it for a while. He felt like a stone had been shoved into his stomach.

He put his clipboard down on the counter at the nurse's station and the date at the top of the form he had been filling out glared out at him. When had it become July? He frowned. He and Robin had been going strong for over a month? It was Memorial Day that first time. Then they had celebrated July 4th with fireworks of their own. Then Bastille Day – he had completely contrived celebrating that one in honor of Robin's time in France as an excuse for another private celebration – had come and gone. Almost two months, he blew out a shocked breath.

He'd normally have been bored weeks ago or the woman would have gotten clingy and he'd had moved on. But he wasn't bored and Robin wasn't clingy. Why the hell wasn't she clingy? Because she was planning on leaving anyway?

_Love is not what Patrick and I are about. Now, if you're talking about sleeping with him -- well, that's another story. _

_But as for falling in love with you or wanting a commitment -- I mean, please. I might as well pursue a relationship with a high school senior..._

Unbidden, the various things she had said over the past months repeated in his head. Time after time he had impressed upon her that this was no-strings sex and would never be anything more. Time after time she had come back in full agreement, often with a little dig. He always had a vague sense of dissatisfaction when she said things like that and he had put it down to thinking she was lying. The knot in his gut now told him otherwise.

"Hello, Dr. Drake." Patrick blinked and focused on the nurse he hadn't even noticed standing in front of him on the other side of the counter. Gregory, he saw on her strategically placed name tag. His face settled into an automatic smirk.

"Well, hello, Nurse Gregory." He let his eyes drift very obviously to her name tag and back up to her face. "What can I do for you?" he asked, even as he noted that she didn't have freckles and her blue eyes weren't as pretty as certain other brown ones.

"I'm new here, Dr. Drake, maybe you could help me…"

He knew the exact moment Robin came up behind him. He not only heard the click of her sexy, spiky heels, but the air always felt as if it was electrified when she was around. His grin widened as he imagined the picture he made talking to Nurse, he looked at her name tag again, Gregory. If she wanted to move to Rome without telling him, then he had to make sure that he wasn't left holding the bag.

"Hello, Dr. Scorpio," he drawled out as he cast her a sidelong glance, his eyes unconsciously sliding over her body and he didn't even notice he was interrupting Nurse Gregory midstream.

He knew he miscalculated the moment he saw her eyes. She was obviously affected, but he knew it wasn't just jealousy that made her eyes sparkle, it was also disappointment. In him. His stomach dropped at the realization and he completely dismissed Nurse Gregory from his mind. He stood up and put his hands on his hips.

"Hello, Dr. Drake, Nurse Gregory." Robin shot him a pointed look and turned her back on him and put her patient chart down on the counter.

Actually, she grimaced, it was more of a slam. But he was such a pig to be out here flirting with that nurse right in front of everyone and her when she was still sore from his body being inside her.

And you knew that going in, Robin, the little voice in her head reminded her as she thumbed through the patient chart to the lab results she wanted to see before making her treatment recommendations for Dr. Dumont.

The kicker of it was that he hadn't behaved like this in a…she stopped and frowned as she tried to remember the last time she'd seen him give serious flirt to another woman. Not since, she admitted with a sinking stomach, they started sleeping together. Granted, he still gave lines, did his little flirty grin, Robin rolled her eyes, but as far as she knew he hadn't asked anyone else out and she'd never caught him…leaning like that.

What the hell happened between here and the linen closet, she wondered, once again trying vainly to flatten her mussed hair? Maybe he was done? She bit her lip and swallowed. Part of their agreement was that one of them could decide at any time to end it. Maybe this was it.

Tell you what, the little voice asked? No strings means he can ask out and do whatever he wants with anyone else at any time and still be with you. Still, she told the little voice, he was a pig. Then it's a good thing you didn't plan to fall in love with him, the little voice taunted.

"Shut up," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that, Dr. Scorpio?" Dr. Patrick Drake leaned in over Robin's shoulder and said close enough to her ear that his breath caused her to shiver, which only infuriated Robin further.

Robin gritted her teeth and ignored him.

"Did I ever tell you how pretty you look in green? Jealousy becomes you, Dr. Scorpio," he said, hoping to raise her ire and erase the look of disappointment he had seen in her eyes.

"I'm trying to work, do you mind?" Robin continued to make her notes. Patrick continued to hover. "What?" she snapped and looked over at him. She reared her head back when she realized how close he still was leaning on the counter next to her.

"You really don't need to be jealous," he said in a low tone.

"You're right because we're just having no-strings sex. You can maul whomever you want," she said just as quietly before turning back her chart because, to her utter dismay, tears had filled her eyes.

Patrick dropped his eyes and looked thoughtfully down at the counter for a moment. "I'm sorry."

Robin's pen paused in mid-sentence and then she continued writing. "For what?" she tried to make her voice sound light, but it was rough with the tears she was trying to hide.

At the question Patrick frowned. "For, uh, upsetting you." For flirting when I have every right to? Why did it feel like he was doing something wrong? Why did he feel like a heel for hurting her when he was a free agent? Why the hell was he apologizing?

"You didn't upset me." Robin closed the patient chart and looked away. She started when she saw Epiphany watching her and Patrick like a hawk. She cleared her throat and walked up to the nosy nurse and handed her the chart. "This is for Dr. Dumont, please make sure he gets it when he checks in." She turned and walked away before Epiphany could give her more nonsense about Patrick's vulnerable heart. She just might scream.

Patrick stood at the nurse's station watching Robin walk off. He had the fingers of one hand bracketed over his mouth and he was frowning.

"What'dya go and do that for?" Epiphany snarked at Patrick.

"Do what?" He looked at her and then his eyes slid away and he picked up his clipboard from the counter.

"Crawl all over Nurse Gregory when you knew Dr. Robin was on her way over here."

"I wasn't crawling. And I'm allowed to crawl all over whomever I want." Patrick scowled at his clip board.

"Stupid agreements or not, you know better than to shove another woman in her face right after you've hit the eleventh floor linen closet." At Patrick's flush she laughed. "I'm guessing Dr. Robin did something to hurt your precious ego and you were striking back at her instead of using that smart mouth of yours."

Patrick shot her a look and then walked off. Epiphany watched him go and shook her head.

* * *

"Do you have any sense of privacy?" Robin asked in exasperation when Patrick came walking into her office.

"Of course I do." He sat down in the chair across from her desk. "I think we should talk."

"Oh, sure." Robin swallowed, bracing herself for him to tell her that their fling had run its course and he was moving on. She felt like such an idiot. She had been so happy these past weeks that she had almost forgotten what their arrangement really was.

"I wanted to make sure that we were still on for tonight. We already got those tickets and…"

Robin blinked and completely stopped listening to what he was saying. The depth of her relief stunned her.

"Hello, Robin?" Patrick leaned forward and waved his hand in front of Robin's face. "You in there?"

"Um, yeah. Sorry. We're still on for tonight." She gave him a small smile.

"Good. Good." Patrick swallowed and just sat there.

"Was there something else?" Robin asked over the pounding of her heart.

Patrick shook his head, but still didn't move.

"Don't you have to get back to work? Surgery?" Robin prompted.

"Yeah. I'll see you at 6:30?"

"Yes."

Patrick stood up and licked his lips and looked down at her, his brown eyes hazy. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, nodded and walked out.

Robin looked at the closed door long after he was gone trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**Three **

"You really didn't want to see this did you?" Robin asked Patrick as they slowly walked hand in hand out of the theatre and towards their car amidst the rushing crowd around them.

"What makes you say that?" He smirked.

"You looked like you were practicing sleeping with your eyes open. The only thing you seemed to enjoy was intermission."

"During intermission I had your full attention." He leaned down so he could speak closer to her ear. "Besides, sleeping has become one of my favorite activities of late, or rather going to bed."

"Just bed? How about linen closets, empty exam rooms, office chairs, couches…" she started ticking off, eliciting a bark of laughter from him as he pulled her closer and put his arm around her shoulders and thumped her arm companionably.

"I did like how the wife and the mistress got along. I mean if you're going to get married you might as well have everyone be amiable," Patrick teased.

"You're a pig."

"Nothing new there." Patrick chuckled. "What was with that whole doctor as a poet thing anyway? I didn't get it when I was in college, don't get it now. Oh, and now he's a singer," he said in reference to the musical version of Dr. Zhivago they had just seen.

"I've known plenty of doctors who are also poets," Robin said.

"Yeah, in France." Patrick snorted. "I don't have any poetry to recite, but I can show you my favorite French activity when we get to the car."

Robin rolled her eyes. "Well, I think it was beautiful. I wasn't sure about turning this story into a musical, but they really pulled it off. Now, more people will get to see this great work in a more accessible way."

"Well, I would have preferred the musical to having to read the book."

"So much for being cultured." Robin rolled her eyes as she and Patrick arrived at Patrick's sleek, sporty car and walked over to the passenger side.

"Exactly," Patrick said and instead of opening the car door Patrick leaned back against the car, bent his knees and put his arms around Robin's shoulders and pulled her to stand between his legs.

"This where you're going to give me your French demonstration?" Robin smirked up at him.

"Why not?" Patrick grinned. "Look around. We're not going anywhere for a while in this traffic. We might as well entertain ourselves," he said in reference to the back up of cars waiting to either back out of spots or to get out of the parking lot. "Can you think of anything else to do while we wait?" He licked his lips.

"Word games?"

Patrick laughed. "Are you warm enough?" He straightened her dark blue pashima around her shoulders.

Robin nodded and put her hands on Patrick's chest. She looked at him with a teasing light in her eyes and ran her hands down his chest to rest on his stomach. "So, no on the word games?"

Patrick cupped the back of her head with a hand and assaulted her with a heated kiss. He moaned into her mouth as he tasted the tea and cookies they'd shared between kisses during intermission. His other hand slid over the silk of her baby blue slip dress, down her hips, to the back of her thigh and over her firm butt then up her back to tangle in the thin strips of silk crisscrossing over her bare back. He pulled back slightly to mutter, "I should have ripped this dress off you the moment you opened the door tonight."

"Just to avoid the play?" Robin teased her fingers inside the waist band of his pants.

"Added bonus." He leaned back in to continue kissing her. He gasped when Robin cupped him. His hips thrust forward pressing his arousal against her hand. Taking his dare, Robin unbuttoned his slacks and slid down his zipper. When it was open she teased his length with her fingers pulling from him a moan. "You have to stop that," Patrick whispered in her ear.

"Why?" Robin asked as she nipped kisses over his collarbone.

"Because you're going to get us arrested."

"Good thing my uncle is the police commissioner."

"And who will explain to him you giving me a hand job in the parking lot of the Port Charles Performing Arts Center, me or you?"

Robin froze. "Good point." She immediately zipped up his pants and put her hands more safely on his arms.

"It might have been fun to see the expression on his face," Patrick murmured against her neck. "Before he shot me."

"Ahem."

Robin and Patrick froze. Patrick lifted his head and looked at the security guard who was standing behind Robin, while Robin hid her face in Patrick's chest.

"It's time for you young people to take your performance elsewhere. We're locking up the lot now."

"Yes, sir." Patrick grinned and bit back a chuckle as the security guard whose wink belied his stern tone. He walked off and Patrick peeled Robin off him and helped her into the car.

"That was so mortifying," Robin giggled.

"A lot less so since you're hands weren't in my pants."

"He could have seen that!" Robin groaned and covered her face.

"Get in the car, perv," Patrick held her door open.

"Where are you going?" She asked a few minutes later when he turned right instead of left on Port Charles Boulevard.

"My place."

"Let's go to my place."

"Mine is closer."

"By like two minutes and mine has a shorter distance between the car and front door, not to mention a more private route. It's also closer to the hospital and we get to stay in bed longer."

"You're five minutes closer than I am."

"Yeah, five more minutes in bed tomorrow morning. Or the shower."

Patrick pulled a u-turn.

* * *

Robin's hand shook as she tried to get the key into the front door. That was because Patrick was running his hands over her body and his lips under her ear. "I'm never going to open this if you don't stop."

He reached around her, took the key and opened the door without looking. Once they were inside the door Patrick picked her up, kicked the door closed and walked to the bedroom where he put her down on the bed. He loomed over her and licked his lips. "I have wanted to do this since you opened the door tonight." He slid his hands up her thighs and pushed her dress until it was crumpled around her waist. He bit his lip as he saw her white thong underwear and sheer thigh high stockings. He slid his fingers under the strings at each hip and put his knee on the bed and leaned down and slid his tongue into her welcoming mouth. Robin wrapped her legs around his waist as he moved his hands under her dress to knead at her bare breasts.

"Why did we waste time at that damned play?" Patrick asked as he slid down her body and took off her shoes.

"Because you were a sweet man who bought the tickets when you heard me say I wanted to see the play."

"Sweet?" I'm not feeling very sweet." He stood up and undid his pants and pushed them and his underwear down his legs. "Does this look sweet?" He began to unbutton his blue shirt.

"Actually." Robin licked her lips.

Patrick grinned and sat down on the bed and began to slowly and seductively roll her stockings down her legs. When her legs were bare he traced his fingers up and down enjoying the little sounds of pleasure she made. He didn't stop until she began to moan his name over and over again in a pleading litany. Pleased with himself, Patrick crawled up her body, settled himself between her legs and initiated a kiss that led to hours of long, slow love making.

* * *

Hours later Patrick lay awake looking at the ceiling that Robin had a friend paint in blue and white clouds, with little pixies and fairies flying around and peeping out at random. When he had first seen it he had teased her about it, but she had simply said that it made her happy. He couldn't make fun of that. Tonight, with the moonlight streaming in the window making it glow he realized that it made him sad.

Robin was sleeping, her naked body pressed against his, her head resting on his shoulders. He was gently stroking her hair and savoring the feel of her breathing on his chest. He put his other hand on her naked hip and, as expected, felt himself get hard. He wanted her again. Worse, he needed her and that scared him to death.

No strings. No commitment. Friends and sex. That's all this was supposed to be. But that's not all it was he finally admitted, his eyes on the fairy that always reminded him of Robin. The moment he heard her mention her desire to live in Rome he had felt like he was being dropped from a great height. Moments later he set out to strike back and only had the experience of sheer panic at the possibility that he had just blown it. He was feeling things he had never felt and he was losing control of himself. The only thing he could think of to get control back over himself was to disengage from Robin and that only led back to the panic.

What the hell was he going to do?


	4. Chapter 4

**_Thanks for all the lovely feedback! _**

**Four **

"I owe you big for this, thanks, man!" Patrick hung up the telephone, a big grin on his face.

"You look like the cat that ate the cream." Epiphany looked at Patrick with raised eyebrows.

"You my friend, Epiphany, are looking at a wonderful...um…friend. Robin is going to be so grateful to me." He leaned back against the counter in the nurse's station and rubbed his hands together. "And I can't wait to collect."

"Yeah? And what is she going to be so grateful for?" Epiphany put a pile of charts down on the counter.

"Ah, watch and observe." Patrick spied Robin as she walked towards the nurse's station. She spotted him and smiled as she put her patient chart down on the back counter and began to make some follow up notations. He walked over and leaned down on the counter. "Guess what you're doing this weekend."

"I'm going to New Haven for a reunion with my college housemates. Do you have Mr. Porter's films back yet, Epiphany?" Robin looked beyond Patrick to ask.

Silence.

"You're what?" Patrick asked, straightening up and pursing his lips.

"I'm going to New Haven for a…."

"I heard you." Patrick slid his hands into his jeans pockets, flaring his lab coat back. "So, who's coming to this? Just your old housemates?" he asked slowly.

Robin nodded. "Well, mostly. Shelly is bringing her fiancé David. None of us have vetted him yet and she's not allowed to marry him until we approve. Shelly had horrible taste in men all through college." Robin shook her head and laughed as she remembered the hours they used to spend talking about Shelly's creeps and Jason. "And Brad's wife Margie will come if they can get her parents to watch the kids. It was still up in the air. Other than that it's just the old roommates." Robin looked at Patrick curiously, her heart pounding. When he said nothing, just continued to shift around and avoid her eyes, she debated for a moment about dropping it but, with a mental sigh, decided one of them had to say what they meant. "You realize that I can't bring you to this, right?"

"Why not?" Patrick asked, frowning, finally looking up at her.

"Hi everyone, this is Patrick my friend with benefits he's here so we can get some during the weekend. I can't do that! Why would you even want to come along anyway?"

"You're right, bad idea." Patrick's expression hardened.

Ignoring the shaft of disappointment, Robin proffered an alternative invitation. "How about I make you dinner tonight at my place tonight since I'm leaving tomorrow?" Robin said in an attempt to be conciliatory and ease the tension that had been growing between them lately.

"What time?"

"Seven?"

Patrick nodded, grabbed his clipboard off the counter and with a quick glance at Epiphany walked away.

Robin leaned her elbows on the counter and turned her head to watch him go. Epiphany walked over and handed her the folder she had requested. "Don't even start." Robin put a hand up. "Patrick and I are adults who can manage our own relationship."

"Could have fooled me," Epiphany huffed and turned away.

Robin rolled her eyes and went back to work.

* * *

He was determined to get back on track and erase what happened this afternoon. Patrick stood outside Robin's apartment door with one hand on his hip and the other holding a bunch of flowers. He took a deep breath and raised his free hand to knock.

A moment later Robin opened the door. Seeing her with her hair pulled back, her face heated from cooking and wearing a yellow tank top and jeans, all thought left his head and traveled south. He licked his bottom lip and smiled shyly at her. "You look beautiful," he said gruffly and held the flowers out.

She blushed and looked doubtfully at him. "Thank you." She took the bouquet of purple tulips and closed her eyes to take in her scent.

Seeing Robin lose herself in the sensual experience of smelling the flowers he brought made him even harder. It also made his heart skip a beat, which set his brain to functioning again.

Robin opened her eyes and looked at him. "Thank you. Come in," Robin invited and stood back to let him in. Patrick walked in a few steps and then turned to face her. Robin waited for a moment. "I'm going to go put these in a vase and dinner should be ready soon. Do you want a drink?"

"Whatever you're having." He followed her towards the kitchen where she poured him a glass of iced tea, which he took and held up to the light with a grin. When she looked at him questioningly, he took a sip to let her know he was fine with the drink, then he leaned back to watch her snip the ends of the tulip stems and put them into a heart shaped, crystal cut vase.

"These are beautiful, thank you." She turned and smiled at him, her arms wrapped around the vase full of flowers. "Will you put these on the side table for me?"

Patrick put his glass on the counter and took the flowers. "I'm glad to see that these didn't meet the same fate as the last bunch of flowers I brought you," he said as he walked back into the kitchen.

"Does it help to know that I salvaged them after I discovered how wrong I was?" Robin looked at him pleadingly, a teasing tilt to her pink, glossed lips.

"Depends. Where did you put them?" he drawled as he picked up his glass of iced tea and took another drink.

"In the bedroom." Her smiled widened.

"Then I feel much better. How about a thank you, right here?" Patrick pointed to a spot on his cheek.

Robin laughed and shook her head, but walked up to him just the same. She put her hands on his arms. "You'll have to bend down. You're too tall."

"I am not too tall, you're too short!" Patrick laughed and bent down a little, but not enough. "And face it." He bent down just a bit further. "You love every inch of my body." His voice was gruff and suggestive.

Robin laughed and grasped his face. "You are an arrogant jerk." She pressed her lips to his. "I don't know why I put up with you."

"I do." Patrick grabbed her around the waist and pulled her against him. "Mind-bending sex."

"Oh, yeah, that." Robin put her hands around his neck and tipped her head back waiting for a kiss.

"About this afternoon…"

"Let's not talk about that now. Let's just enjoy the evening. Unless, there's something you want to tell me?" Her voice shook slightly at the look in his eyes.

He was silent for a moment. "No, let's do what you said and enjoy ourselves tonight." He leaned in and delivered the kiss Robin was waiting for.

* * *

"This was delicious, Dr. Scorpio." Patrick smiled at Robin across the table. The white tapered candles were almost down to stubs. "I'm impressed."

"Are you ready for dessert?"

"How about a dance first?" He looked towards the living room and then back at Robin. Playing in the background was a random selection of soft jazz from digital radio. Robin held up her slender hand and Patrick took into his strong, larger one and pulled her to her feet and into his arms and spun them to the larger area in front of the couch.

Robin rested one hand on his waist and the other up and entwined with Patrick's as they spun slowly around, staring into each other's eyes.

"I didn't know you were such a good dancer, Dr. Drake." Robin's eyes sparkled.

"I'm full of surprises."

Robin laughed at his echoing of her words and slid her hand around to cup his firm ass. He raised an eyebrow and bit his lip.

"Maybe we should take this dance into the other room?" she suggested. Before the words were out of her mouth she was in his arms and being carried into the bedroom.

When they got to the doorway they stopped abruptly.

"What's wrong?" she looked up at Patrick's face, in the dark she couldn't see his expression, only where he was looking. She turned her head and saw that her half-packed suitcase was on the bed. Damn, she thought, she hadn't had time to move it out of the way before he arrived. "Just push it aside." In the next moment she was dropped unceremoniously to her feet. She swayed dizzily as he turned and walked back out of the room and down the hall.

"Patrick?" Robin called out as she walked back into the living room where Patrick stood. His back was towards her and his hands were on his hips. "What…"

"When were you planning to tell me you were going away?"

She frowned in confusion. "It never came up." She walked over and turned off the music. When she turned back he was facing her.

"Never came up? That you're going out of town for the weekend? How does that not come up?"

"I have no idea where this is coming from, Patrick. You. Me." She motioned between them. "Are having no strings sex and suddenly I need to clear my schedule with you? We never plan anything in advance, was I supposed to wait around to see if you wanted to do something this weekend?"

"That's bullshit, Robin. We had that play planned weeks in advance."

Robin had to concede that point. "True, but that was your doing. Anytime I've ever tried to make plans in advance you take great pains to remind me of the temporary and uncertain nature of our relationship, if I can even use that word." Robin crossed her arms.

"When? When did you ever plan anything in advance?"

"Emily's birthday party."

"Once, and that was almost two months ago." Patrick slashed his hand dismissively before putting it back on his hip.

"I learned my lesson well, Patrick."

"You don't even know what Saturday is do you?"

Robin thought for a moment. "July 29th is um, no, I have no idea." She shook her head.

"Two months, it's been two months to the day since we went for a picnic."

Robin blinked and just looked at him. She was speechless.

"I had planned something to commemorate that. Something special. For you. For us."

Robin blinked again. "Let me get this straight, you were planning to celebrate the anniversary of the start of our no strings casual sex affair? Does that even make sense?" She held one hand palm up. "How was I to know anyway? You didn't tell me in advance either."

"You know what? It's probably a good thing you're going away this weekend. It's been getting too heavy between us." He turned and walked towards the door.

"Heavy?" Robin's voice shook with disappointment and fury. "You're right. This will be a good chance for both of us to rethink this entire arrangement!"

"Have a good weekend, thanks for dinner," Patrick said quietly as he walked out and closed the door behind him.

Robin's jaw dropped and tears flooded her eyes as the sound of the door clicking shut. She put her hand to her chest. She had no idea what had happened, how a lovely dinner had spiraled out of control like that. Did they just break up? Not that there was any relationship to break up. It felt like a break up, though. Tears began to slide down her cheeks and her breath caught. She walked over to the table and blew out the candles and began cleaning up. She had been playing by the rules they had agreed to, the only ones he would agree to. And now he was mad about it and trying to make her feel like she was in the wrong? What the hell was going on?

What was she going to do now?


	5. Chapter 5

_You people are slaying me with all the crack metaphors in your feedback! I'm dying of laughter reading it all, thanks! This chapter took an unexpected turn and threw my entire outline off. But Robin insisted this was how it was going to go. The character gets the final say. So, I'm seriously making it up after this point….hang on!_

**Five**

"Don't you have off today, Patrick?" Noah asked as he came to stand next to his son at the tenth floor nurse's station.

"Not anymore." Patrick shrugged and handed the waiting nurse the file he had been working on. He turned and looked at his father. "You're looking healthy. Things going well?"

"I haven't been drinking."

"That's not what I meant," Patrick said stiffly. "I was inquiring about the state of your health and my liver after your transplant operation."

Noah sighed, wondering if he and his would he and his son ever be on the same page? Problem was they were both the same kind of stubborn. "I'm doing well. Do you have plans tonight? Because if you don't maybe we can have dinner together?" Noah asked, looking hopeful.

"I was supposed to, but I don't now. Where do you want to go?"

* * *

"I hear Robin is out of town," Noah pretended to be concentrating on his dinner salad. The father-son duo was dining out at the Metrocourt restaurant. A convenient choice since both men lived downstairs.

"How did you hear that?" Patrick looked up.

"I wanted her for a consult and I was told she had taken off." Noah paused, wary of his son's tense expression. "Is everything all right between you two?"

"What do you mean?" Patrick scowled and looked down at his untouched salad.

Noah sighed and put his fork down. Apparently, being subtle wasn't going to work. "I mean since you and Robin have been seeing each other and she's out of town without you and you're in a bad mood I was wondering if you two had a fight."

"We're not seeing each other." Patrick shifted and didn't look up.

"You broke up?"

"There was nothing to break up. We were never seeing each other." Patrick shrugged.

Noah closed his eyes. "I haven't had such a hard time understanding anyone since I was drunk." Noah opened his eyes and leaned forward. "I know you and Robin are seeing each other. Everyone in the hospital knows it. Some have even seen it, which by the way isn't the most professional of behavior."

"Give me a break; you aren't seriously lecturing me about that given your own reputation at GH, which still lives today." Patrick snorted.

Noah smirked proudly for a moment. "If you don't want to talk about what happened with Robin I'll drop it. I'm only asking because I care about you and I have never seen you look as happy as you have the last two months."

"You knew it was two months," Patrick mumbled under his breath. Noah heard him and his smiled widened. "What?" Patrick snapped and glared at his father.

Noah just smiled at his son and then took a slow sip of his water. He put the water glass down and with much ceremony straightened the cloth napkin in his lap. "You mentioned earlier that you had other plans that fell through, I suppose those were with Robin? How did you screw that up?"

"Why do you assume I did anything? She was the one who had other plans and didn't tell me about them. Some reunion with her college roommates that I wasn't welcome to attend."

"That doesn't sound like Robin." Noah frowned in surprise. "Did you ask her why?"

Patrick opened his mouth to respond, but then closed it. He started toying with the lettuce on his plate with his fork. "The thing is Robin and I have, had this arrangement. No strings. No commitment. No hurt feelings. Technically, I guess she didn't have to." Patrick cleared his throat and continued toying with his food.

Noah rubbed his forehead. "How in the world did you get Robin to agree to that? Robin is not that kind of woman, Patrick." Noah shook his head in disappointment. "Don't tell me, you got mad at her for what sounds like playing by the rules. Rules that were your idea in the first place, I bet."

"Actually, Robin wrote those rules." Patrick pointed his fork at his father.

"After you refused to have a bona fide relationship I'm sure." Noah sat back and looked at his son, disappointment writ large on his face. "Now, it looks like you're regretting that stupidity. I could have predicted this, which is probably why you didn't tell me before. So much for no hurt feelings."

"I don't have hurt feelings."

"You're pouting." Noah smirked.

"I do not pout." Patrick dropped his fork and threw up his hands. "I wish people would stop saying I'm pouting."

Noah laughed. "That my son is the same pout you used to make when your mom and I would send you to bed and you wanted to stay up longer. Tell me, what asinine thing did you say to Robin before she left to make sure she was as miserable as you are right now and what you're going to do to fix it?"

"Not feeling the love here, Dad." Patrick leaned back in his chair and was, well, pouting.

"Precisely. Let me tell you something you've obviously missed. Robin Scorpio is not the kind of woman you have a no-strings affair with. She's the kind of woman that you fall in love with. She is your equal in every way and you are hers. And you both would rather cut off your tongues than say what you really feel, which is probably why you both entered into this dumb ass arrangement and are now suffering by spending the weekend apart miserable without each other."

"Do you think she's miserable without me?"

"Remind me to smack you in the head later." Noah sighed and wished he could have at least one glass of whiskey before talking to his son.

* * *

Robin dropped her bag in her bedroom and flopped down beside it. She closed her eyes and told herself she wouldn't fall asleep like that before she unpacked. It had been a long weekend. A good weekend, just long. She had enjoyed catching up with her friends and they had all fallen in love with Shelly's fiancé. The girl had finally gotten it right. Part of Robin envied her. The way David looked at her told everyone he was absolutely smitten with her.

Brad's wife hadn't been able to make it, so Robin, Brad and Sean had gone pub crawling together when Shelly and David called it an early night. It had been a total blast. They had hustled pool, one-upped each other on creative shots and danced all night. Even when there was no dance floor. She had even met a few guys to flirt with. Part of her wished she didn't have HIV solely so she could have taken one of them up on their offers of a one-night stand, then maybe she could break the hold Patrick had over her, but the truth was she wasn't even really tempted. Hadn't been tempted by any other man, in fact, since she had decided to sleep with Patrick. Which apparently, was over two months ago.

She couldn't believe that he had planned to celebrate that. Well, of course, he had celebrated Bastille Day, a Yankees game win and pretty much anything else he could think of to justify spending hours in bed. "So don't go making it into something it's not," she reminded herself for the umpteenth time since Friday. In the hazy hours of Saturday morning she and Sean had sat up sharing their relationship woes. Robin and Sean had talked herself all the way up to Patrick was in love with her right back to he was just upset he wasn't getting laid this weekend because he was having trouble luring women to his bed since he was sleeping with someone who was HIV+.

In the end, Sean had threatened to come to Port Charles and sleep with Patrick himself, in Sean's world there were no straight men, only men who hadn't been victims of his charm, if she didn't go to sleep. Robin had groaned in realization that her old buddy was just the gay version of Patrick Drake, and therefore her father, and dropped off like a light.

Many hours of driving, too much alcohol, too many conflicted thoughts about Patrick and not enough sleep later Robin was home and even more confused than when she had left. Were she and Patrick over now? Was that for the best? Did she even want more from him in the first place? Could she trust him to follow-through when every time in the past he'd shut like a venus flytrap the moment he showed any vulnerability? She had no idea and despite the fact that she had declared a moratorium on all things Patrick at some point on Saturday – their putative anniversary – she had never stopped obsessing about him and what to do.

Just then her cell phone started to ring. "If that's the hospital I think I'm going to cry." Robin rolled over and felt around for her purse and pulled out her phone without opening her eyes. "Scorpio."

"Are you home yet?"

"Patrick." Robin's eyes popped open and she propped herself up on her elbow. "I just got home." Her heart had started pounding the moment she heard his deep, sexy voice.

"I'd like to take you out to dinner."

Robin couldn't stop the smile that lit up her face. "Anywhere but the Metrocourt." Suddenly, she wasn't so tired anymore.

* * *

"Did you have fun this weekend?" Patrick asked as he guided her into the restaurant he had chosen for them. "More importantly, did you miss me?" Robin smiled and shrugged. Patrick slid his hand up her back to cup her neck. "I missed you." Robin's smile widened. "Throw me a bone, Scorpio."

She put her hand on his waist and slanted a look up at him. "I missed you," she said softly.

"What was that? I didn't hear you?"

Robin laughed and moved to stand facing him. She rested her hands on the waist band of his pants. "I said, I missed you."

"Did you tell your friends all about me?" He grinned and licked his lips.

Robin shrugged. "What did you do all weekend? Or should I ask who?" She raised an eyebrow at him. Her stomach quivered and she stopped touching him.

"Let's see. Friday I worked." He ticked off one finger. "Saturday, I worked. Saturday night I had dinner with my dad. Sunday, what did I do, oh yeah, worked." He put his hands on her face. "No need to be jealous."

Robin's heart pounded. She didn't think he was lying, but she was surprised. She thought the first thing he'd do was explore other possibilities. "How did dinner with Noah go?"

"I think my dad is doing like yours and trying to make up for all the missed years in one fell swoop." Patrick grimaced.

"Lectures?" Robin smirked.

Patrick nodded and then looked up as the hostess returned to lead them to their table. Once they were seated they studied their menus and placed their orders. "Had enough alcohol this weekend?" Patrick motioned towards the glass of ice water she'd told the waitress she was content with.

Robin nodded, her eyes wide. "Some I've never even heard of before. It was a lot of fun, although I think I could sleep for a week now. I'm not eighteen anymore. Thank god."

"Let's take off work and I'll join you." He winked.

Robin looked down. "Before we hit the sheets we should talk about how we left things Thursday." Robin looked up. "We've been arguing lately, and not in our usual disagree about everything on principle kind of way."

Patrick nodded, all trace of humor leaving his face. "As my father succinctly pointed out, I think it was during lecture five thousand and fifty seven, I had no right to be angry at you for having other plans when I never even asked you what you were doing this weekend when I made plans for us."

"The thing is, Patrick, I did think about telling you weeks ago but I thought it would be crossing some kind of invisible line in our arrangement." She shook her head. "This was supposed to be easy, but it's not anymore, is it?" She dug her nails into the napkin as she waited for his answer.

"No, it's not." He looked down and pursed his lips. His brow was furrowed evidencing his deep thought, and his hesitation. He finally looked up and licked his lips. When he spoke, his voice was gruff. "I like being with you Robin and not just in bed." He dimpled for a moment at the mention of bed, before turning serious again. "I care about you more than I've cared about any woman. I'm just…I'm not ready to promise things I don't know that I can deliver. Things like long haul. But I'm not ready to end things with either. I don't want to." He shook his head and blew out a breath and licked his bottom lip again. "I'm hoping we can meet on some middle ground. Up the ante."

Robin took in what he said. "What exactly is a middle ground?" she asked hesitantly.

"I was hoping you would know that." Patrick forced a smile when the waiter came over and served their soups. They had both ordered the lobster bisque. Once the waiter was gone neither moved to eat their food. "What about dating? Can't we just date? Can you give me more time?" he asked.

Robin looked at Patrick. He seemed so pained, so earnest. And god, she wanted him so badly. Cared for him so much. More than she'd let herself admit before now. She could fall in love with him. Maybe she already had. This was dangerous because he might never be able to reciprocate. What was it she had said to him once? That you had to take joy where you could find it, even if it wasn't exactly what you had planned? This seemed to be one of those times. She wasn't ready to give him up yet either. Maybe it was weak, but she nodded in assent. "Dating? Are you sure you can handle that?" She grinned at him.

Patrick's answering smile took her breath away. "I've heard this place has the best lobster bisque in town. Let's eat before it gets cold."

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**Six**

"Come in!" Robin called out at the knock on her office door. She spun her office chair around to see who she had just given permission to enter and she broke into a smile when she saw it was Patrick. She waved him in when he hesitated upon seeing her on the phone. _"Non, c'est bien. Au revoir."_ She hung up the phone and got up to join Patrick where he had dropped onto the small plum colored sofa she had squeezed into the office.

"How was surgery?" she asked quietly as she studied his pale, drawn face.

"She didn't make it." He leaned his head on the back of the couch and entwined his fingers with Robin's when she took his hand.

Robin's heart ached for him. "Are you done for the day?" Robin asked, searching her mind for something she could do for him. He turned his head, still propped on the back of the couch, and uttered a mumbled yes. "We could have dinner and I could give you a massage. Unless you just want to crash or be alone."

Patrick's face lit up at the idea. "Well, that's an offer I definitely cannot turn down." He picked up their joined hands. "I can't wait to have these lovely, little fingers all over my body. In a purely therapeutic manner, of course." He bit his lip and winked at her.

Robin smiled and brushed the hair that was drooping on his forehead back. "Why don't you go change and meet me back here. I need to finish something up and I'll be ready to go."

Patrick dropped a kiss on her cheek before leaving her office and heading for the doctor's locker room.

* * *

He was standing under the spray of the shower, letting the water pound his sore shoulders when everything he'd been putting off thinking about crowded into his mind. Thoughts about the conversation he and Robin had at dinner the other night when she had gotten back to town. Stuff he still hadn't figured the heck out. Like what the hell did "dating" mean?

How was it different than no-strings sex? Words like exclusive and commitment were not uttered and he didn't think it was implicit in the practice; he wasn't sure what Robin expected. Frankly, "dating" was a suggestion made out of desperation. He knew what he hoped it meant. He hoped it meant he got to keep sleeping with Robin; he hoped it meant that if she planned to go out of town or decides to move that she'll talk about it with him first, though he's been reluctant to broach the subject of having overhearing her talking about moving to Rome. He definitely assumed it meant he can't sleep with anyone else, although he wasn't sure about that and would like to have the option available in case he meets someone that he really has to have and who is agreeable when he divulges that his lover is HIV+. Maybe that was negotiable?

He turned and let the water splash down his face and he began to lather his chest.

Lover?

Did he just think that?

His stomach jumped and his heart pounded. He'd had lovers before, woman he slept with on a regular basis for a period of time. But they weren't the people he looked for when he needed soothing, like he did tonight with Robin; like he had many times in the past with her. They weren't women that he thought about at inappropriate or unexpected times, like when in a staff meeting or talking with another woman. They weren't women who the very thought of made him hard every single time, like right then in the shower.

He slid his hand around his arousal with no intention of satiating it, knowing that it would get taken care of tonight in a much more satisfying way.

These lovers were definitely not women who had high expectations of him –personally or professionally. And it was those expectations that gave him pause and made him crave more, all at the same time. He didn't know what it was that Robin saw in him and he was fairly certain she was fooling herself and that at some point he would be just disappoint her, yet he craved the look in her eye when she was impressed with him. Or like tonight, when she cared enough to make things just a bit better for him.

It was the need that had him throw out "dating" to her and still he was no further along in figuring out what was expected of him. He hoped that he could fake it until he and Robin got tired of each other. He ran his hand over his arousal one more time before turning off the water.

* * *

"Not to complain or anything, but now I smell like you," Patrick said in reference to the massage oil that Robin had been using. His voice was low and gruff and sent shivers through Robin entire body, head to toe.

"I'm surprised you can even talk, never mind complain." Robin said in a low, seductive tone right into his ear. Patrick was lying naked underneath her, face down on her bed. His entire body was shiny with the lavender and vanilla massage oil she had been using and the only sounds she had heard from him for the last forty-five minutes were of the moaning and groaning variety.

"Me too. Especially since there can't be any blood left in my brain." He shifted meaningfully underneath her. "I think you missed a spot. A rather large one."

"Wow. How did I miss your ego?" Robin nipped his ear and then ran her tongue over the sore spot. She sighed when he moaned in response. "Do you know how wild having my scent on you is making me?" Robin slid off him and put her head down on the pillow next to Patrick's.

"How wild?" Patrick opened his eyes.

The lust in his eyes made Robin gasp. "I want you so badly right now," she admitted in a small pleading voice. She had wanted him from the moment he had stripped down and lay on her bed. Touching him, covering him with her oily scent only made her want him more. She was trembling with it.

"How badly?" Patrick licked his hips and turned onto his side. Robin's eyes dropped down to his arousal and then back up to his eyes. Her only answer was the quickening of her breath. She was beyond words. She just wanted him. Needed him. Now.

Just as needy, Patrick dug his fingers into her hair and slammed his mouth into hers as Robin frantically dug underneath the pillow and came up with the condom that she had hidden there earlier. With shaky fingers ripped open the packet and rolled it on him just in time for him to slam inside her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and arched into him, throwing her head back, so that he was deeper and deeper inside her with each thrust. Her hands slipped as she tried to hold on to his oily shoulders. He laughed at the trouble she was having and used his hands to support her back as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Laughter faded into gasps, into moans, into cries of passion as moonlight filled the bedroom around them.

"I'm sorry you lost your patient, Patrick." Robin was tracing her fingers up and down Patrick's chest. Her head was resting on his shoulder and his arm was wrapped around her.

"Me too. I really thought I could save her, but when we went in." He broke off and began tracing her hand. "Why is it that I never lost a patient before I came here?"

"Did you take the same risks or did you play it safe?" Robin asked, already knowing the answer. Patrick blew out a breath and leaned his head on top of hers. "You care more now. You're willing to try now. That's why."

"I don't know if this caring stuff is such a good idea for a surgeon."

"Your father cares."

"Look what happened to him." Patrick closed his eyes.

"He didn't fall apart because he lost a patient. And neither are you right now."

Patrick wrapped both his arms around Robin and kissed her forehead. "Well, if I have this at the end of it, then maybe it won't be so bad." His words were said softly into her hair.

"Are you hungry?" Robin asked a short time later. She rolled over and out of his arms.

"Starving. Do you want to go out?" He reached over to play with her hair.

"Not really. I can make something or we can order in." Robin propped herself up on her elbows and looked at him. She dipped her head down and sniffed him. "What do you feel like having?"

"I feel like having cookies. That's probably because I smell like one. Cookies and flowers."

"You do smell sexy, Dr. Drake." Robin grinned at him.

"I think we found your aphrodisiac, Dr. Scorpio." Patrick bit his lip and smiled back at her. He laughed out loud when she nodded. "I'm going to have to keep a supply of this all around the hospital."

"People might wonder why you smell like cookies and flowers, Dr. Drake." Robin sat up. "Come on. Let's get something to eat so we can keep our strength up."

"If this is what dating is like, I'm definitely all for it," Patrick said, getting up to follow her. "How hard do you think the kitchen floor is?"

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**Seven**

"Now that we're dating we tell each other if we're planning to do things or go places, right?" Patrick and Robin were sitting at the breakfast bar in her kitchen. She was wearing her short, yellow silk robe and he was wearing just his boxer briefs and they were eating the omelets that Patrick had insisted on fixing them for breakfast before heading off to the hospital to work. They weren't in a rush because sometime over the past few weeks Patrick's belongings had slowly made their way into her closets and bathroom and visa versa.

"We share information about each other's lives." Robin turned her head and frowned. Dating was not exactly her area of expertise either. She seemed to either have relationships or not. No need to tell him that, though. "Like what?"

"Say, if you were thinking about or planning to move we'd talk about it," Patrick said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Moving? I think that's something we'd share." She chuckled and took a sip of orange juice.

"So, are you?"

"I just moved into this apartment. Are you thinking of moving out that hotel, finally?" Robin asked hopefully.

"What's wrong with where I live?" Patrick asked, trying not to laugh at Robin's expression.

"Other than I feel like I should wear sunglasses and a trench coat when I come in and out? Other than the fact that you have no kitchen? Other than the fact that it's completely impersonal and transitory? And when we're both there there's no privacy whatsoever because it's one room? Gee, I don't know, why would you want to maybe get a more permanent home?" Robin shrugged and took a bite of the omelet.

"So, you have an opinion about it?" Patrick smirked. "Hotel living is easy. Every time I think about moving it just seems easier not to. We were talking about you moving, though." He pointed his fork at her.

"But, I'm not moving, nothing to talk about." She shrugged and took another bite of omelet. "This is really good, Patrick. I must say I'm surprised."

"What, you think I just got women to cook for me all these years?"

"Well, yes, and the fact that you don't have a kitchen seemed to be a give away."

"I can take care of myself. My mom taught me. Now, stop changing the subject. Do you have any plans to move to Paris or Rome?"

"I wasn't aware there was a subject and no I don't have any plans in the immediate future to move back to Europe. My only Rome plans are to go spend my birthday with Brenda in October. Where did you get that idea from?"

"I thought I heard you say you wanted to live in Rome." He shrugged and took a bite of the omelet while a deep sense of relief settled in at her negative answer.

Robin tilted her head and look at him curiously.

* * *

"Have you seen Dr. Drake, Epiphany?" Robin put down the pile of files she was carrying down onto the counter. She was exhausted, even her green scrubs looked droopy. She had just spent the last ten hours in the lab working on an experiment that was proving more difficult in practice than the research paper she was recreating implied. Clearly, there were flaws in the article and she was going to have to solve them before she got to the point where she could add the variants she had planned. She didn't know if the problems were from the journal's requirements or if the underlying research was flawed. Tomorrow she would have to contact the scientists responsible for the work. She was tired and frustrated. She could use a good distraction.

"He got out of surgery about half an hour ago; he rushed in and out of here like there was a fire somewhere. I thought he was going to look for you."

"I haven't seen him. I'm going to get out of here myself." She picked up her pile of papers again and headed for her office to put them away.

* * *

Robin hated that she felt even a bit of disappointment that she hadn't seen Patrick all day and that they hadn't made any plans for tonight. She knew it was unrealistic to expect they spend every night together and she knew it was a good idea that they spend some time apart if she was feeling so attached to his company. They were just dating, after all, even if they had pretty much spent every night together for the past couple of months.

"Well, tonight," she told herself, "You are cooking a healthy dinner, taking a bath and having some much needed alone time!" She shifted her overloaded bag to her other shoulder as she pushed through the side doors to the hospital. She could certainly spend a night without Patrick Drake. She had tons of things to catch up on. Journal articles. Emails to her friends in France. A good chat with Brenda if she was home. A speech to write for the conference she was speaking at next month. Plenty of things to….keep herself busy. She sighed as the doors closed behind her. It felt like keeping busy, too. She was just contemplating dropping in at a dance class at the studio when she spotted him.

She stopped short as she saw Patrick chatting with a tall, leggy brunette across the street. The woman was working him; she could see that from here. Flirting, chatting animatedly and then she put her hand on Patrick's arm causing Robin's temper to rise. Patrick's expression looked friendly, charming, totally relaxed. She wanted to throw something at him. Then he helped the woman into the driver's side of the Mercedes they were standing next to and walked around and got into the passenger side of the car.

Robin felt like she had been punched in the gut and tears came to her eyes.

* * *

Robin leaned back in her desk chair and smiled proudly. Actually, it was more of a bitter grimace, but she didn't care. She had been working steadily for the past three hours and she felt satisfied with her accomplishments. Every lingering email was answered, everything was organized into folders, she had a solid outline for her speech at the Pharmacology conference she was speaking at in September and she had even created a detailed schedule for the research she was working on. None of it chased away the feelings of hurt. She was, however, finally exhausted enough in mind and body to go to sleep as soon as her pillow hit the bed.

As she prepared for bed, no amount of logical self-talk chased away the dread she felt for the next day and facing Patrick. No reminders of how Patrick was free to date other women chased away the feeling of betrayal that simmered in her stomach. She was just pulling back the covers on her bed when her doorbell rang. Her eyes immediately went to the clock and saw that it was just after 9:30. She dropped the covers, grabbed her yellow robe to put over her tank top and sleep shorts and went to answer the door. She had a good idea who it was and why he was there. "Play it cool," she told herself before she opened the door.

"What are you doing here?" Robin asked through the partially open door. Her words and tone remained formal, but her eyes drank in Patrick's dark, good looks. It was sinful how much she had missed him and how much he wanted him, despite being furiously angry with him.

"I have some news that I thought would make you happy," Patrick said, either unaware or ignoring the cold tone of her voice.

"You could have called. You don't get to just drop by you know."

Patrick's smile slipped. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked.

"Did it never occur to you that I might be busy?"

He looked down at her bare legs and back up to her face. "Are you?" His tone was short.

"I was going to bed," she admitted. She rolled her eyes when she saw his responsive lustful smirk. "Didn't you get enough tonight already?" she said before she could stop herself.

"What are you talking about? Will you let me in so your neighbors don't hear every word we say?"

Robin hesitated for a moment before letting him in. She stayed standing by the door and crossed her arms. "What's this news that just couldn't wait?" she asked, testily.

"First, what the hell is your problem?"

Robin tapped her foot and looked away, then back at him. "Fine. You want to know? You might be free to go out with whomever you want, but when that date refuses to sleep with you you don't get to just show up here for sex."

Patrick stiffened and his face went carefully blank. "And this is what you think I'm doing? No questions asked, just another assumption from the brilliant and suspicious mind of Robin Scorpio." He put his hands on his hips.

"I saw you." Robin cleared her throat, but kept her eyes locked with his, though she felt a strong urge to look away.

"You saw me what?" Patrick sighed.

"I saw you get into a car with that woman."

"And you got jealous." He grinned, although his eyes were still angry. "Do I not have the right to date whomever I want?"

"Yes," Robin snapped. "That's not the point, the point is you showing up here when the date obviously didn't go the way you hoped. Did she not want to sleep with you since you're sleeping with someone with HIV?"

"I should really let you think that," Patrick said in a low tone. His grin was gone now and his face and his tone betrayed his weariness. "The woman you saw was my realtor who found me the perfect apartment that I just made an offer on tonight before rushing over here to tell you about it. I wrongly assumed you'd be happy about that since you were just saying how uncomfortable you were at the hotel."

Ah shit. Robin's jaw dropped open and her stomach sank. She dropped her arms from their defensive position.

"I'm getting really sick and tired of you jumping down my throat and assuming the worst about me all the time."

Robin blew out a breath. "What is it you want me to think about you, Patrick?" she asked quietly.

"Are you trying to blame me for this?" He scowled at her.

"No. Not really. I am sorry for jumping down your throat, but as for assuming the worst you're the one who's always telling me you're going to hurt me, that you don't know how to commit or be faithful and who takes great pains to remind me about the limitations on our arrangement. What am I supposed to think when I see you smiling at a woman that way and then you leaving together? Then you show up here in the middle of the night all ready to roll!" She threw her hands up in the air. "Just this morning we talked about your moving and you said you weren't planning on it."

"It's not even ten, Robin, hardly the middle of the night." His tone was dry. "And this morning I wasn't planning on it. I'd talk to Kim a few times, but hadn't been motivated before now, but you said you were uncomfortable so this afternoon I called her up and told her what I wanted and now it's done."

Robin's shoulders dropped. "It feels like the middle of the night." She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "I understand if this is just getting too hard for you." She opened her eyes and looked at him, her heart in her throat.

"Hard for me or hard for you? I think you're the one with the problem, Robin, not me. The slightest bit of evidence and you think I'm jumping ship or using you. How about giving me more credit than that for once?"

"Do you want to tell me about the apartment?" she asked in a small voice.

"I think I'm just going to go home, we can talk about it tomorrow." He walked towards her and the door.

Robin put her hand on his arm. She bit her lip and her pride. "Stay, please," she asked in a quiet voice.

"Are you sure that's what you want, Robin? If I'm such a horrible person why would you want me to?"

"It's what I want. You're not horrible, I don't think that. I really am sorry. Will you stay?"

Patrick paused for a moment, before nodding and turning to follow Robin to the bedroom.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: There's a side joke here in a comment made by Noah that I'll explain at the end. Thanks for all the feedback!_

**Eight**

"Sleep well?" Patrick's deep voice broke through the fog of sleep that Robin fought through to wakefulness. She opened her eyes to find his dark ones directly in her line of vision as he looked down at her. She nodded and reached up to caress his stubbled cheek. She smiled lazily and rolled herself closer to his warm, naked body. "Mmmm, want a little sumtin' sumtin' this morning?"

Too content to be baited Robin wrapped her fingers around his hard-on and slid her leg between his. She grinned lasciviously at his sharp intake of breath and began to stroke him.

"Have I told you how much I love waking up with you?" He thrust into her hand and dragged her against him and leisurely kissed her waiting mouth as she continued to make love to him with her hands.

The next space of time was filled with sensual and intimate indulgence. When he buried himself inside her, she surrounded him. When he drank of her, she tenderly cared for him. Their mutual release was long and deep and sublime and left them both shaking. As the physical sensations faded they lie together staring into each other's eyes until Robin's alarm went off and it was time for them to start the day.

* * *

"And I came on right after the hairy back contest."

"The what?" Patrick looked at his father like he was nuts.

"You've been off in la la land for the past five minutes, what's on your mind, sport?" Noah asked his son.

"Nothing." Patrick shrugged and took a sip of his lukewarm coffee. Father and son were sitting at a table in the hospital cafeteria. They both had come out of surgeries within minutes of each other and jointly decided to take a break together. They had started out the break bitching about hospital coffee and talking all things surgical – and who was better and knew more – then Patrick suddenly drifted off and Noah began talking babble to get his attention.

"Does 'nothing' go by the name Robin Scorpio?"

Patrick opened his mouth to automatically deny it, but then decided to not bother. "Yeah."

"What's going on?"

"You know, that's the first time you haven't accused me of something bad when it comes to Robin."

Noah leaned forward. "That's because lately you've stopped fighting how much you care about her," Noah said.

Patrick looked at his father and said nothing.

"Not going to say anything?" Noah tilted his head. "Maybe I spoke too soon?"

Patrick looked down. "No, I care about her." Patrick licked his lips, kept his head tilted down, but looked across the table at his father who just raised his eyebrows at him. Patrick sighed and put his hands on the table. "We're dating."

"And how exactly is that different from before?" Noah barely bit back an amused grin.

"I have absolutely no idea." Patrick shook his head.

"What do you want it to mean? No bullshit." Noah pointed warningly at his son.

Patrick smirked at his father's qualification before getting serious again. "I want…her." Patrick broke off and shook his head in frustration.

"That's deep, Patrick," Noah said dryly.

"What do you want me to say?" Patrick slumped in his chair.

"Is it really that hard for you to just say how you feel? Did I do that to you?" Noah asked in a sad and quiet tone.

"What are you talking about?" Patrick propped his elbow on the table and dropped his forehead into his palm.

"You can't say what you feel. You didn't used to be this guarded, this fearful." Noah sighed. "I really screwed you up."

"I'm responsible for who I am, not you." Patrick frowned and started to object to his father's characterization of his emotional well-being.

"Listen to me for a second - you and Robin are right together. I can see how you feel about her. If you can't admit it to yourself or her you're going to lose her."

"Robin and I are doing fine." Patrick lied through his teeth. He had just been sitting there lost in his thoughts about how uncertain everything was, feeling like he was sinking in quicksand and trying to strategize how to keep his head above it.

"Spare me. You two are sniping at each other every other day and it's all because you both don't just say what you feel. It's like before you got together, but worse."

"So, why are you giving me a hard time?" Patrick pointed at himself. "Go harass Robin."

"You say you're responsible for who you are, then who are you going to be? Are you going to get what you want or passively let life pass you by because of some macho bullshit or fear? Man or mouse, Patrick?"

"Impressive." Patrick gave a low whistle and broke into a smile at his father's challenge. His father definitely had a point. He once challenged Robin to go for what she wanted, it was about time he did the same.

* * *

"What's this about?" Robin walked up behind Patrick who was standing at her office door with a bouquet of roses in his hand. She had a big smile on her face as she looked from the flowers up to Patrick's face.

"I was thinking." Patrick leaned against the wall as Robin unlocked her office.

"Yeah?" Robin looked up at him as she pushed the door open.

"Actually, it's kind of hard to think when you're this close to me." He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Bemused, Robin licked her lips. "I was thinking about this dating thing we got going."

Robin laughed and put her hands on Patrick's waist and pulled him into the office with her. She kicked the office door shut behind him and pressed him to the door. "What were you thinking, Patrick, before I get old and gray." She pulled his shirt out of his pants and pressed her palms into the hard muscles of his abdomen.

"Really. Can't. Think." Patrick groaned and tossed the flowers towards the sofa. "Wait. Wait." He put his hands over hers which had gotten busy opening his pants. "Let's talk first."

"Three words together I never thought I'd hear from you at this point in time." Robin pouted, her eyes glittering with promise and teasing.

"Me either." Patrick shook his head and pushed her towards the sofa. He bent down and picked up the flowers and handed them to her when she sat down. "These are for you."

"Thank you." Robin buried her nose in them and looked up at him. "What's this in aid of, then? Flowers. Talking. I'm intrigued."

Patrick straightened his shirt and then ran his hand through his hair. "I came to ask you out on a date tonight. I wanted to talk. About us. I kinda got distracted. Out of order." He looked down at her bare legs. For someone so short she had incredible legs. He watched as she leaned over to put the flowers on the side of the couch. When she stretched out he could see the outline of her hard nipple through her dress. His mind stuttered again.

"I try." She leaned back and crossed her legs, deliberately letting her yellow dress ride up her thigh. "Wasn't it you who said talking was overrated?"

Patrick nodded and licked his lips. He was standing, towering over her, but he was afraid to sit down. If he did he'd be all over her. In her. Man, she messed with his head.

"Why don't we not talk now and talk on our date?"

"You know, Scorpio." He put his hands on his hips and grinned down at her. "I like how you think."

"Then get over here." She leaned forward and ran her hands up his thighs to his waist. She dipped her hands into his waistband and pulled him forward.

Patrick fused his lips to hers and climbed on top of her, pushing her dress up to her waist in the process.

* * *

"Was it the flowers?" Patrick grinned up at Robin who was looking down at him from the sofa. He was lying on the floor.

"I think it was just you. Flower never hurt, though. So, what's this date and talking?"

"It's a surprise. Come on. It's about that time." Patrick sat up and search around the floor for his discarded clothing.

Meanwhile, Robin sat up and smoothed down her dress and went on the hunt for her panties and shoes. She stepped over Patrick and chuckled when she found one spiky heel in the wastepaper basket. "Two points," she told him as she put her shoe back on.

"I'm nothing if not athletic," Patrick said as he stood up and shrugged into his shirt. "Good aim."

"You're so much more than that, Dr. Drake." She helped him button his shirt. "How's my hair?" she asked, trying to smooth it out.

"Sexy." He ran his fingers through it to help her and then he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips. "Are you ready?"

She picked up her purse and the flowers from the desk and took his hand. Just as they reached the door her desk phone started to ring.

"Come on, it can wait," Patrick tugged on her hand.

With one last look at the phone, Robin turned off the light and closed her office door.

_A/N: Last Friday at Rick's show, he performed at a Catholic school fundraiser – no joke – it was held in the school parking lot and it's a complete fair and it was a packed audience. The thing was, Rick came on after a hypnotist and drum roll a hairy back contest. A fact that Rick laconically commented on during his show. It was surreal. Sigh. He is major hot hot hot._


	9. Chapter 9

**Nine**

"Oh my god!" Robin pressed her hands over her mouth as she took in what Patrick had done for her. From the hospital he had taken her to the new Harbor View apartments up to the 20th floor to his new apartment. She had marveled that he had a key already, but he told her that when he wanted something he got it and said that there was just some paperwork to finish up, but the place was basically his. Though she didn't say it, that kind of confidence and ambition was a turn on for her. She suspected he always knew that about her anyway.

When he opened the door he had taken her hand and used his other one to cover her eyes and led her inside. He didn't let her look until they were standing in the breeze of the open balcony door. When she opened her eyes she found a picnic set up in front of the open door.

"This is so great." She reached a hand out and took his. "You did this for me? Thank you. It's perfect."

Patrick's grin couldn't be any wider or prouder. He put his hand on her back and led her to sit down on one side of the tablecloth on a pile of pillows. He pulled the bottle of champagne out of the chiller and held it out for her approval. The next minutes were spent tasting champagne and starting on the chilled shrimp starter.

"I'm very impressed, Patrick. This is very romantic. And this place is gorgeous. Will I get a tour later?"

"Of course. Here." He held out a shrimp for her to bite into.

The next hour was spent dining and chatting. As it always was when Patrick and Robin were in harmony there was much laughter and many smiles accompanying their verbal badinage. By the end of the meal, Patrick was on Robin's side of the picnic holding her in his lap, her back to his front, and nuzzling on her neck. "Are you ready for dessert?"

"I thought we did that at my office." Robin bit her lip and closed her eyes.

"Don't tell me Dr. Scorpio has finally had enough?"

"Not quite yet, Dr. Drake." Robin turned her head and looked at him. "You said you wanted to talk about something. Is everything all right? You're not buttering me up for something are you?"

"Well. I kind of am." Patrick brushed her hair off her forehead and took a deep breath. "I wanted to talk to you about strings."

"Strings?" Robin echoed blankly and then her expression changed as she caught on. Her breath caught.

"I want you, with strings. I find I'm pretty stuck on you, Dr. Scorpio. What do you say?" He smiled impishly. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Wow." Robin searched his expression. Was he teasing? Was he serious? Was he scared? Was she?

"Don't overwhelm me with your acceptance," Patrick said dryly.

"Are you sure? What changed your mind?"

"I should have known you'd analyze this to death first." Patrick rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling, only the smile on his face betraying his enjoyment of her quirks.

"Fine, then yes. You are strung, Dr. Drake." She grasped onto his shirt front and tilted her head back.

Patrick bit his lip before diving in for the invited kiss.

"You know." Robin pulled back from the kiss. "That makes you my boyfriend!" She threw her head back and laughed.

"What is so funny?" Patrick held on to her so she didn't fall over, he was on the verge of laughing himself, just from the infectiousness of her laugh.

"The first time I met you." Robin said in between laughs. "You were doing a nurse on the table in an OR!"

"I knew you liked what you saw." He smiled smugly.

"How in the world did this happen?" She shook her head in wonder.

"Just go with it, Scorpio. It could just be all the champagne."

"No." Robin put her hands on Patrick's face. "It's definitely you. I find I'm rather stuck on you, too."

"I knew you were lying this whole time about not wanting a commitment from me." He smirked evilly.

Robin's jaw dropped and she let go of his face. She pointed at him. "You are the one who asked me. If anyone was lying it was you." She stuck her tongue out at him for good measure.

"Didn't anyone teach you it's not nice to point?" He grabbed her finger and dived in to nuzzle her neck. She laughed and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Is anyone going to believe this?"

"You plan to tell people?" Patrick pulled back and looked at her in mock horror. "What will that do to your reputation?"

"It'll make me seem compassionate since you've been chasing me around the hospital like a puppy for nine months."

"I have not!"

"Yes, you have. You'd think you'd never had no strings sex the way you were acting." Robin shook her head in mock disappointment. "Kissing me in plain sight, forgetting to lock doors, asking me out on dates really loudly," she ticked off.

Patrick cleared his throat and blushed. "Come to think of it," he mumbled into her ear.

"Was that an admission, Dr. Drake?"

"Since you're my girlfriend I think you can call me Patrick." He nipped on her ear. Then he pulled back and brushed back her hair and put his hands on her face. "We're really doing this."

Robin smiled and moved backward off his lap and onto the floor. She put her hands on his shoulders and pulled him forward as she lay back on the pillows that lined the floor beneath them. He uncurled his legs and braced himself on his hands on either side of her head. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss before pulling back and balancing on one hand. With his free hand he pulled at the strings that held Robin's wrap around dress around her lithe body. He then leaned back on his haunches and unwrapped the dress from her body. He licked his lips and looked into her eyes and then down at her body. "You're so beautiful." He leaned down and kissed her bare stomach. She sighed and moved restlessly underneath him. He gently traced his fingers over her waist and hips. She sighed and ran her fingers through his hair.

"Patrick." His name was a soft plea. She felt his answering smile against her skin. He didn't hurry, though, as he continued to press little kisses to every centimeter of her torso and run his fingers teasingly in his lips' wake.

When his lips finally reached hers, she wrapped her arms around his neck and slid her legs around his thighs and arched into him, only able to communicate her need with her body. Every slide of her tongue was a request, every undulation of her hips a question. Patrick answered each one.


	10. Chapter 10

**Ten**

"Did it feel different to you?" Patrick asked.

"Hmmm?" Robin opened her eyes to look at Patrick who was peering down at her. He was propped on his elbow and their still naked bodies were entwined on the floor of his unfurnished apartment.

"Now that we got strings I thought it might be different." He shrugged and dipped his head, a sly grin on his face.

"You mean not as good." Robin rolled her eyes.

"I was kind of worried. But don't worry, you have dispelled all of my concerns." He looked into her eyes and brushed back some of the hair plastered to her cheek with his free hand. "Of course, I might need some more reassurance."

"You're unbelievable." Robin's tone was half-way between disgust and a giggle.

"So you've been saying since we met." Patrick rolled onto his back, resting a hand on his stomach. "We should get going. Early day tomorrow for both of us. And we could get more comfortable at my place."

Robin sighed and sat up and looked around for her clothes. She had just pulled her panties on when she heard the distant sound of her cell phone ringing. She grabbed her yellow dress and pulled it around her as she walked back towards the door where Patrick had dropped her purse when they came in. Behind her, Patrick was finally pulling on his own clothes.

"Hello? _Oui, c'est moi_."

He smiled at the sound of her voice and made a mental note to thank his father for the kick in the ass. He'd gone and gotten himself a girlfriend. He looked over at her as he slipped his feet into his shoes and observed once again that she was a damned sexy one at that. As he watched he saw her body stiffen and even in dim light her face seemed to take on a ghastly hue. He didn't even realize he had moved, but within seconds he was at her side and catching her as her knees buckled. He wrapped his arms around her and his breath caught at the look in her eyes.

"What the…" Patrick exclaimed he felt how cold and clammy Robin had gone. Shock, he diagnosed as he held her against him.

"_Quand?_" He could hear the tears in her voice. "_Je serai a_." Robin pulled the phone from her ear.

"What happened? What's wrong?" He took the phone from her hand and brushed her hair back. The distant look in her eyes worried him. "Robin. Robin. Talk to me."

She took a deep, shaky breath and finally focused on him. "Lucy died. Last night. They tried to call me at the office earlier." She wrenched out of his arms and backed up. She still looked shaky, but she avoided his attempts to help her as she retied her dress and smoothed down her hair. "I need to pack and make reservations. The funeral is at the end of the week. In Paris. I have to go." She turned away.

"We have to go." Patrick's firm voice filled the empty apartment.

"You don't need to come to this, Patrick." Robin walked away, picking up her shoes on the way.

"Who's Lucy, Robin?" He asked quietly.

"Lucille Graham was my friend. She died of AIDS, Patrick. We were in an AIDS support group together in Paris." She turned her head and looked at him, her eyes angry now. Defiant.

He knew instinctively she was waiting for him to recoil at the reminder of her condition, of her probable future. "She clearly meant a lot to you. I'd like to go with you. Boyfriend's prerogative," he added when she was about to object again.

"Suit yourself." Robin turned away and walked out the door, not waiting for Patrick to follow.

Patrick sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

* * *

She hadn't spoken to him in seven hours other than to say excuse me when she had to pass him to go to the bathroom. They were sitting in business class heading to Paris. The silence was wearing on Patrick's nerves. He hated to be ignored, but for once he was more worried about someone other than himself. Once they had left his new apartment last night Robin had pulled herself together – she had become very much like the self-contained woman she was when they were first getting to know each other and it was startling for Patrick to experience. They had gone to the hospital and re-arranged their schedules to be out of town for approximately a week, made reservations and gone their separate ways to pack and then Patrick had spent the night at Robin's. They hadn't spoken much when he got there, just talked logistics and then gone to bed. Patrick could feel her pulling further away by the hour.

Her responses to his kisses were as heated as ever, maybe even more so, but she had declined to make love. He had woken in the middle of the night to find her side of the bed empty and cold and he had found her in her office sobbing. He had lifted her up and carried her back to bed and held onto her until she fell asleep and for the rest of the night. He had been relieved that she hadn't fought him, had thought they had turned a corner now that she had expressed her grief; but if anything it was worse when she woke up.

Patrick closed his eyes and turned up the volume on his MP3 player. He couldn't even be angry with her for pushing him away and he really wanted to be angry right now, but she did it with such an air of sadness and resignation that it tore at his gut. In the past he would have pushed her to a place of anger and defiance, but he had agreed not to this morning when they were waiting for their connecting flight at Boston's Logan airport. He had tried then to press and she had turned to him with tears in her eyes and asked him not to.

"_If I talk about it I'm afraid I'm going to break and I can't do that right now." She had looked down, a tear streaming down her cheek that she swiped at angrily. "I know I'm not handling this well right now, I just don't know what it is I'm handling."_

Patrick's heart had broken just a little. He almost felt physically battered. She was pushing him away, but she was doing it in a way that actually brought him closer. In some strange way she was letting him in, letting him see hat she was vulnerable and he couldn't ignore her plea to let her keep some of her guard up. He just wasn't sure how long he could hold back. He could only guess as some of the thoughts going through her head and he knew that the longer she kept him out, the more difficult it would be to get back in. He was coming to realize how much he needed to be let in by Robin, how much he needed her; and it was a whole heck of a lot more than he'd thought even just twenty-four hours ago.

He opened his eyes and turned to look at Robin who was staring out the window, a magazine sitting unread on her lap. He licked his lips and held his hand out, palm up. He saw her lips tilt the slightest bit before she slid her hand into his. He let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding and held on tight.

* * *

"I'd like to understand what Lucy meant to you, Robin." Patrick asked nervously from where he was standing near the balcony doors in their hotel room.

Robin sighed and looked over at her boyfriend. God, she closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing. She didn't know what the hardest thing about this was. Was it the loss of Lucy who had meant so much to her? Being dragged back into the stark reality of HIV and AIDS after the freedom she'd finally allowed herself both in body or mind? Or was it everything to do with Patrick?

She was brought right back into reality with that phone call that this was not a world he should have to live in. This was her place. A place she had shared with Stone. A place where she had lived alone ever since Stone had died. The place Patrick had battered down the doors of and stormed in, but he didn't belong here. He was a vibrant, amazing and, most importantly, healthy man. It would kill her to take that away from him.

She opened her eyes and sat down on the bed. She held a hand out to him. The eagerness with which he took it and sat down next to her did not go unnoticed. Patrick's uncharacteristic patience made her dizzy. Part of her was hoping he'd push so that she could push back and push him away; or that he'd get tired and break things off with her. It was self-destructive, immature and unfair. And it might just be the best thing for Patrick. Yet, she desperately wanted to bury herself in his arms and ask him to never let her go.

"Lucy and I met during my residency. She was a patient battling kidney failure brought on by one of her HIV meds. Somehow we became friends. Actually, she made us become friends. Lucy is, was, one of those larger than life people. She was an inspiration. She'd had HIV for fifteen years and she never let it stop her from living life." Robin paused and frowned. "She was a social worker. She got married and had kids. Her husband had two children from a previous marriage so she had the family that she liked to say she shouldn't have had. She led this HIV support group that she strong-armed me to join despite my protests that I didn't have time. She was a friend, but in a lot of ways she was also my hope."

"I think I let her down, but she never gave up on me." Robin pulled their entwined hands into her lap and looked down at them.

Patrick swallowed as he looked down at Robin's bent head. If a sappy platitude was what was required here he would fail miserably. He didn't have the talent for it and never before had the desire to learn it either. "Why would she be disappointed?" he asked, curiosity and the pressing silence forcing him to say something.

Robin shook her head. "I need to go see Gerard, her husband and see if he needs help before tomorrow." She pulled her hand from his, but didn't get up.

"Let's go then."

"I want to do this alone." Robin looked up at him, her face blank but firm.

"Robin, don't shut me out. I came here…."

"I know why you came here, Patrick." Robin stood up and walked over to pack up her purse, her back to him. "You felt obligated. I shouldn't have let you come, but I was being selfish." She turned around to look at him.

"What the hell…" Patrick stood up and began to protest heatedly.

"This is my probable, almost certain future, Patrick. It's bigger than condoms and spermicidal jelly and pamphlets. It's AIDS and you could get infected no matter how careful we are. You might think you know, but you don't. You should take some time to think. I won't hold you to anything when we get home."

Patrick stood stunned, furious and speechless as she walked out of the hotel room.


	11. Chapter 11

**Eleven**

"Why didn't you bring your boyfriend with you?" Gerard LaPorte, Lucille Graham's husband and Robin's friend, asked Robin as they stood next to each other at the sink washing and drying the fine china that was going to be put out for the get together at the family home after tomorrow's memorial service. The children, Amelia and Pierre, were spending the night back at their own homes with their spouses and the grandchildren, Giselle and Lucille, were staying with Gerard so that he had company in the morning.

"I wanted to see all of you before tomorrow," Robin answered, avoiding his sharp gaze.

"I was surprised when you told me that you had brought a boyfriend with you all the way from America. He must be very important to you, very intimate," Gerard said conversationally as he tried a tea cup.

"We work together, we, uh…" Robin trailed off as she searched for an appropriate prevarication. "We're good friends."

"Lucille would have been so happy for you, finally finding someone who you let see your heart."

"We don't, we're not. Patrick and I are casual." Robin turned and pretended to be scrubbing at a spot on the platter she was cleaning. Her cheeks were flushed.

"Casual does not come on a moment's notice to Paris for a funeral, Robin." Gerard put a hand on her bare shoulder. She had taken off her sweater and was wearing a blue sundress that tied around her neck. "You are running again. I could see it in your eyes when you came in. Even when you were reading the children their bedtime story you looked sad."

"Lucy just died, Gerard, of course I'm sad." Robin turned and handed her friend the beige platter.

"You don't fool me, _ma petite_." Gerard put the wet platter down on the counter. "You are once again letting your fears of this disease trap your heart. So many times we have discussed this."

"There's nothing to worry about." Robin's eyes darted away from Gerard's brown eyes which were so like Patrick's, all-seeing, beautiful. "I…."

"Yes, you love your career. You're healthy. There is more to life and this Patrick Drake showed you that and now you are running because you remember about death. Come." Gerard gently put his hand on Robin's arm. Robin put down the towel she was nervously crumpling between her hands and followed him to the back of the house. He opened the door to the grandchildren's room.

Just an hour earlier Robin had been reading Gerard's granddaughters a bedtime story _The Velveteen Rabbit_ from the beautifully illustrated volume Robin had brought them years ago.

"What do you see?" Gerard asked Robin.

"Your grandchildren." Robin didn't understand the question.

"And?" Gerard's eyes bored into her.

Tears suddenly filled Robin's eyes and she turned and walked hurriedly down the corridor.

Gerard quietly closed the bedroom door and walked slowly after her. He caught up with her in the small solarium. She was standing stiffly with her back to the entryway, her tears already contained.

"It's scary to know you are going to die." His words rang clearly in the plant-filled room. "But we all know it, Robin. Not just people with HIV."

"It's different." Robin turned and faced him, her eyes red-rimmed and bruised. "There's so much I cannot do."

"Like what?"

Robin shook her head. "All of this, family. Children. Someday whoever I marry will have to watch me die. How can I do that to someone? Why did you choose this?"

"Or maybe you will watch them die. I could have died long before Lucy from any number of diseases or an accident. Lucy herself could have been hit by a bus. There are so many ways life can end, but it's the quality of the life that you live before that which matters. I know you know this?"

Robin nodded slightly at Gerard's soft query.

"Living is the hard thing, Robin. Whether you have HIV or not. Whether you love someone with HIV or not. I understand the precautions, the health limitations. But the real challenge is how having HIV affects your heart and mind. All of us have limits, you just find a way to live with them or around them."

"How are you okay with this? Losing Stone." Robin shook her head and wrapped her arms around herself. "Was the hardest thing I ever did. I cannot imagine putting anyone through that."

"You were a seventeen year old girl who had just been diagnosed herself. I am a fifty-seven year old man with many years of memories. Stone did not know he was sick. Lucy did. I did. Patrick Drake knows about your condition?" At her nod he continued. "I am desperately sad that my Lucy is gone from my life, but I would never have chosen to live without her to save myself from this end. We would have been cheating both of us. Our entire family. You have seen us together, you know."

Gerard walked forward and guided Robin to sit down on a purple velvet chaise and sat down next to her. "My first wife left me and our children when they were very young. Should I have regretted loving her and not saving myself from that heartache? Do you regret loving Stone?"

Robin dropped her eyes, her fingers twisting together. "Sometimes I do," she whispered, saying out loud what she had never dared to admit before.

"Finally, you are human, Robin Scorpio." Gerard smiled sadly.

Robin looked up at him in surprise.

"No one ever believed you when you said you had no regrets. You couldn't not and be human. Your heart is turned off when you say that. You loved Stone, he loved you. No one doubts that. But the rest – death, HIV, how could you not hate it? Did I not wish sometimes that I never fell for the fickle Collette, of course I had my moments, but I got over it because I had my children and found love again." He shrugged. "Did I curse and despise the disease my Lucille had? Of course. Did I regret loving her? Sometimes, like when she was sick or when I had to go in for tests every few months and wait for the results. It was not a perfect life, but it was the life I chose to have, or that chose me. Do you remember what Lucille used to say?"

"That you and the children were fated to be her family." Robin brushed a tear off her face.

"Could Lucille have turned me away and say she did not want us to live through her death or me to live through possibly being infected myself? She tried." Gerard chuckled at Robin's look of surprise. "The advice you gave you was from her heart because she understood. Do you know what I told her when she tried?"

Robin shook her head.

"That she had no right to decide my fate and to stop being such a control freak. Of course, it sounded lovelier in French." Gerard put his hand over Robin's in her lap. "All of us were prepared for Lucille's passing. We prepared by living our lives and making sure our love was acknowledged. We will miss her every day, my heart yearns for her, but I would never have really lived without her. She was our passionate flame. Do not deny this Patrick, or whoever is your fate, that experience because you are afraid. Patrick is not a scared, seventeen year old girl, and neither are you, anymore."

"I feel like I've heard this a thousand times before," Robin said, not bothering to wipe at the tears running down her face. "But I never really understood it before."

"You have heard it a thousand times before." Gerard laughed. "But your heart was not open to really hear it."

"Patrick," Robin sighed. "What if he doesn't want to or can't live with this? He thinks he knows because he's a doctor, but he thinks it's just about sex."

"That's his choice, not yours. Talk to him as you talk to me and if he chooses no he is both a fool and not your fate." Gerard waited a beat. "Do you want to stay here tonight or will you go see your Patrick?"

Robin shook her head.

"You can let yourself out. I'll see you tomorrow." He leaned over and pressed a kiss to Robin's forehead. She grabbed his hands before he could move away.

"Thank you." She let out a deep breath and smiled through her tears at him.

After he left the room she remained sitting alone for a long time before getting up and heading back to the hotel.

A little while later she stood in her and Patrick's hotel room looking at the empty bed.

TBC...


	12. Chapter 12

**Twelve**

_From part **Ten**_

_Robin shook her head. "I need to go see Gerard, her husband and see if he needs help before tomorrow." She pulled her hand from his, but didn't get up._

"_Let's go then."_

"_I want to do this alone." Robin looked up at him, her face blank but firm._

"_Robin, don't shut me out. I came here…."_

"_I know why you came here, Patrick." Robin stood up and walked over to pack up her purse, her back to him. "You felt obligated. I shouldn't have let you come, but I was being selfish." She turned around to look at him. _

"_What the hell…" Patrick stood up and began to protest heatedly._

"_This is my probable, almost certain future, Patrick. It's bigger than condoms and spermicidal jelly and pamphlets. It's AIDS and you could get infected no matter how careful we are. You might think you know, but you don't. You should take some time to think. I won't hold you to anything when we get home."_

_Patrick stood stunned, furious and speechless as she walked out of the hotel room._

The frustration he'd been holding at bay for two days swept over him and he in turn swept his suitcase off the bed. It was open and his things spilled out on the lush carpet of the boutique hotel they were staying at not far from the Bastille. The mess didn't quite satisfy him so he kicked it for good measure, flipping it over and strewing things into a pile. He licked his lips and blew out a breath. Then something caught his eye. He kicked at his scattered socks and uncovered a box of condoms and lube. His heart thumped hard and then he sighed and bent down and began to pick up his things.

He unpacked his own clothes and then tackled Robin's. He saved her makeup bag for last, not certain he should tackle it at all, but keeping his hands busy was keeping his mind blank. He lined up her various shades of lipstick, sniffed at her shampoo before putting it in the shower, laughed at the fact that she brought an extra box of condoms and then he got to the bag he knew carried her HIV meds. The smile dropped from his face and he sat down on the side of the tub with it in his lap.

He'd seen them before, had dispensed them to her when she was under his care, had seen her take them countless times and it never bothered him. He was a doctor, he knew the facts about HIV and AIDS and a lot more now than he knew before they met. He knew about treatments, kept up-to-date on the research behind her back, but she wasn't wrong to think that he had never really thought about it in more personal terms. Not since he realized it didn't lessen his physical desire for her one iota and, he could admit it now, made him more intrigued to get to know her outside the bedroom.

He opened the case and looked at the rows of bottles. He took them out one by one and ran himself through the pharmacology of each one. When he reached the last one he jammed it back in with a grunt and got up and put the case down on the sink and walked out of the bathroom. He stood with his hands on his hips and looked around the well-appointed room.

He knew what it was she wanted him to think about and his mind just didn't want to go there. Where it, he did want to go was around Paris. For the first time in ages there was no chance he was going to paged into work and he was in Paris for god's sake, what the hell was he doing hanging around here? With a determined stride he walked out of the hotel room.

* * *

Figures, Patrick thought to himself as he walked through the gate of _Le Pere Lachaise _cemetery. Robin says something and almost against his will he finds himself taking her words to heart after a period of initial resistance. Always happened like that. From the hotel he had taken the subway – _Le Metro_ - to the Louvre where tracked down the few pieces he really wanted to see and then gave up the endeavor entirely due to the fact that it would take literally days to do the place justice - and it wasn't much fun alone. He had wandered through the Tuileries Gardens, walked over to Notre Dame and then stopped in a café for lunch. All of it felt empty without Robin at his side and her parting words still rung in his head.

"When did I become this?" he asked himself as he purchased a map from a small shop and figured out how to get to the sight he'd been dying to see since he was in high school – Jim Morrison's grave. And where better to contemplate what Robin had asked him to contemplate than a cemetery.

"Rumor has it you were too smart to live in this world. Not so sure about that. I saw the movie," Patrick said the flower-strewn, graffiti-ridden tomb. He put his hands on his hips. "You never seemed to be afraid of death, guess we have that in common. Robin thinks I should be. That I should worry that I might spend my days taking a ton of pills and worrying about the end coming."

He crouched down and traced his fingers over the stone block sealing the grave from pirates.

He had thought about it the moment he had learned she was HIV, but only in terms of precaution he'd have to take for a one night stand or, later when it seemed that one night would not be enough, a short-term affair. After that he had never given it another moment's thought, not even when he finally admitted he wanted more than casual.

He stood up and went to sit on a nearby bench and studied the gravesites surrounding him.

They probably should have talked about it, how the odds he'd be infected the longer they were intimate increased, but then only if they weren't careful and still so nominally it wasn't even a statistical concern. With protection the odds were virtually zero he'd contract the virus and even without a condom his chance of becoming infected was only 1 in 1000. And with her viral load undetectable the odds were lower still. According to the odds it was more likely he'd contract Herpes or some other STD sleeping with someone else.

Therefore, the issue couldn't be about him being infected when Robin knew these odds as well as he did; it had to be about her feelings on the matter. Maybe, he toyed with the map he was carrying, she thought he was too arrogant and too shallow to understand her fears? That was really the challenge she had left him with, wasn't it?

Shallow. His tongue darted out to moisten his suddenly dry lips.

He had been too shallow to acknowledge the fears she carried around with her and to take them into account when he decided he wanted to move forward. Her fears about love. Her fears about death, about her own death. All left unsaid, ignored. But this was by design, one that was no longer serving its purpose.

Robin had called it on their first date. She was guarded. He was cocky and glib. But it wasn't just being afraid of what they felt, it was about this. All this. He again looked around him. These people were once just as alive as he was. Had lives, careers, probably families and, most likely, love. Then death had cut it all short.

Love. Death.

He took and blew out a deep breath. Shaken, he stood up and looked up at the setting sun.

These were subjects, experiences, he had avoided at all costs for the past decade and somehow the moment a little spitfire walked into his O.R. and interrupted a very pleasant pre-op diversion they were slammed right back into his life. His mother. His father. His choices. Caring about his patients as more than proof of his genius and for the ascension of his career.

And now, caring deeply about a woman he might lose like he lost mother, like his father lost his wife; a circumstance that could lead to all the pain and failure he had been committed down to his bones to avoid. The crux of it all, including the fact that he had been living the very half-life he had taunted Robin with since the day they met. He bit his and shook his head at the blind hypocrisy he had been engaged in. For all his arrogance, clearly he had not thought himself up to the challenge. And he wasn't alone in this; Robin was standing at her own crossroads.

Things had changed for her too when they met and over their acquaintance, he could see it, and with that phone call her guard slammed back up. This time he could see inside it and not just make guesses. Could see her fears and her pain. What she was really asking him was not to take into account the possibility of being infected, but whether he could deal with her fears and her condition, because those were the more real threat to their future, threats that had been lurking in the background all along.

"We've been dancing around it, Jim. _And our love become a funeral pyre_. Maybe you were a genius." Patrick turned and walked out of the cemetery.

* * *

She hadn't come back for dinner.

Patrick had gone back to the hotel room to find it still empty, no evidence that she had ever returned. He sat and waited for a while and then took out the phone they had rented at the airport and punched out the numbers to her phone, but then cut off the call before it made a connection. He walked out onto their little balcony and his stomach churned as he looked out over the dark European city. He actually had an urge to call his father and get advice, something he hadn't felt in a long time, but he knew what Noah would say if he woke him up now. He'd tell him to grow up and let go of the rash decisions made in a time of crisis and to become a man. A man that deserved Robin and that Robin deserved.

What did it mean that he wanted to be that?

And should it even matter?

They were more committed than a no-strings affair, but were they committed enough to be dealing with such long-term issues? He put his hands on his hips and grimaced. There was no middle ground here. HIV didn't allow for that, he had to be either in or out.

Patrick ducked his head and closed his eyes.

Like his father asked, man or mouse?

In a sudden movement, Patrick grabbed his cell phone from where he'd thrown it on the table and walked out of the room.

TBC...


	13. Chapter 13

**Thirteen**

Patrick sucked in a breath and slid the key into the lock. He closed his eyes and shook his head. He was nervous as a schoolboy, fortunately, he thought, he was in a foreign country and it was the middle of the night where no one could see him. All humor fled as he pushed open the door and walked into the dark room. He quietly closed the door and walked down the short hallway into the living area of the room.

_She's here._

He closed his eyes, swallowed and rubbed his hand over the left side of his chest where his heart threatened to beat its way out. "Ridiculous," he whispered to himself as she took off his sports coat and toed off his shoes. He was referring to the distorted fear he'd been trying to logic away all night that she wasn't coming back. That was why he had sat for the last few hours at an outdoor table at a café in _Place de la Bastille_ watching the crowds shop and dine in the traffic circle and studying at the July Column that a memorial to the victims of the uprisings in 1830 and 1848 and which was topped by a gold Cupid. How ironic, he thought to himself, that one of the "holidays" he'd insisted they celebrate all day in bed was Bastille Day and here he was looking at the Cupid icon and wondering if he and Robin were over before they had really begun.

He was on his second glass of beer when he realized what he was doing – pouting – and not doing - anything productive. He stood up, threw some Euros on the table and walked over to the outdoor market on the next block of the circle. He slid his hands into his pockets as he looked around at the wares and thought about what he was going to do. Because Patrick Drake wasn't some wimpy guy who sat around and let life happen to him and he definitely did not let Robin Scorpio run from him. He might have to spend another six months battering down her defenses, but he knew now that it was worth it. More than worth it - needed.

Even after that insight, Patrick didn't rush back to the hotel. He did try to call Robin on her leased phone, but she wasn't picking up and she wasn't answering the room phone either, so he wandered around the market among the other tourists and tried to come up with how he was going to get through to Robin, running through his mind how he was going to tell her what he had thought about that day, what he had decided and, the hardest part, how he felt.

He licked his lips and watched her chest rise and fall in sleep as he finished undressing. Naked, he lifted the light blanket up and slid in next to Robin and curled himself around her. He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent. The warmth of her body seeped into his skin and for the first time in days he felt completely relaxed. She stirred against him, pressing herself back against him which allowed him to slip his arms around her, but she did not waken.

"I love you, Robin," he whispered and then slipped into sleep himself.

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N: Thanks for reading and for all the amazing, amusing and complimentary comments you've left for me. They really mean a lot to this aspiring writer. _

**Fourteen **

Patrick moved his hand across the bed and encountered emptiness where he expected to find Robin. His half-sleeping mind jolted awake and he opened his eyes to look around. The hotel room appeared to be empty, but then he heard noises coming from the bathroom. He sucked in a breath and sat up, the sheet dropping down to sit at his waist. A second later Robin came walking out of the bathroom. She was dressed in a simple black sheath and was putting an earring in one ear.

"Planning to leave me behind?" He snapped.

She looked at him, startled, and then stiffened at his tone. "You came in late so I was letting you get more sleep." She smoothed her dress over her hips and glanced away for a moment. "I ordered us breakfast."

Patrick sighed and rubbed his face and then looked at the clock. They had a couple of hours before the service. He pushed the blanket aside and got out of bed. "How are you doing?" he asked softly as he walked up to Robin. He saw her tense, but ignored it and framed her face with his hands.

"We should talk." Robin put her hands over his. Patrick nodded and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "But we should wait until later. After the funeral."

"Because you think I need to go to a funeral before you'll trust what I have to say?" he asked, his voice tight. He let go of her and grabbed a pair of shorts out of a drawer and put them on, his movements jerky. "I've been to funerals before, you know."

"I know you have," Robin said quietly.

"Then why can't you trust that I know what I'm doing? Is it because you think I'm so shallow and thoughtless?" he asked as he advanced on her. "Too emotionally immature to realize the consequences of my choices?"

Robin frowned and shook her head. His anger, far from worrying her, actually gave her a small flicker of hope. If he was cutting and running he wouldn't be angry. Right?

"Then how about giving me the benefit of the doubt and not making decisions for me?"

"I know you're a doctor, Patrick, I know you know the risks of being with me sexually."

"I'm not just a doctor, Robin, I'm also a man. A man who lost his entire idyllic childhood and family in one tragic moment. A man who loves a woman with a disease that might take her from me too damn early. I don't need a funeral to snap me back to my senses if that's what you're thinking!"

Robin's eyes widened and her mouth opened, but no words came out.

"I thought long and hard about this, Robin. You're right, I didn't think about it in those terms two days ago, but I have now and I..."

Robin put her hand on Patrick's abdomen to stop him from talking.

"What?" He frowned, puzzled by her shaken expression.

"Do you…do you know what you just said? Do you mean it?" Her voice cracked.

"That I love you?" At her nod he licked his bottom lip and raised his eyebrows at her as he nodded.

"Yes. That." Robin closed her eyes and a tear slid down her cheek. She pressed shaking hands to her face. "You love me?" Her voice was rough with tears, with emotion.

Patrick smirked. He was amazingly relieved to finally say the words and to find that they were not accompanied with the panic that he expected. It just felt right. He was also pleased to get such a strong reaction from the usually composed and rigid Robin Scorpio.

"No turning back for me now, Scorpio. I know what I'm signing up for here. The real question is what do you want?"

"I want you." Robin dropped her hands, opened her eyes, which were swimming with tears and sucked in a breath. "I love you."

Patrick's face transformed with the happy smile he couldn't have stopped if he tried. "I knew that. Although, all that running away from me you do did make me wonder. For about two seconds." He bent down slightly and cupped her chin. "I may be the novice at relationships here, but I'm pretty certain that you need to stop running off and pushing me away when faced with something difficult. At least not too far or for too long."

Robin nodded slightly and took his hand off her chin and held it inside both of hers. "I'll work on that. I never thought I'd feel this way again or that someone would feel this way about me." She trembled. He loved her, so then there really was no choice but to move forward from here. Together.

"How could you resist me?" He stepped closer and pressed his lips to her forehead. Her nose. Her lips. He wrapped his arms around her and rest his head on top of hers. "I never thought I would feel this way about anyone."

"Then I must be pretty irresistible myself." Robin buried her face in his chest and pressed her palms flat on the bare skin of his back. She enjoyed the vibrations from his laughter her brag elicited.

"You must be if you managed to trap a guy as amazing as I am."

"Oh, brother," Robin snuffled against his chest.

* * *

Robin and Patrick walked out of Gerard's home that evening. Night had fallen and it had been a long day. First the memorial service which flowed out of the doors of the funeral home with all the people whose lives Lucille had touched during her lifetime. People from work, people from her HIV support group, friends from all over the world and family from England. Then a smaller group went back to their home to share food, drink and stories about the woman they were honoring.

"That was amazing," Patrick said as he and Robin walked hand in hand down the street. "I've never been to anything like it. Dr. Jones' memorial was close, this was…." He was at a loss for words.

"It was a celebration, just what she wanted." Robin sighed softly. "I never expected to laugh today. Thank you for being here with me."

"I don't belong anywhere else." Patrick let go of her hand and put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her against him as they walked. "Where are we going anyway?" He looked around.

"To the river. I thought we'd walk back to the hotel if that's okay with you?"

Some time later they were walking along the Seine, the moon glowing overheard and in the faint sound of music was coming from one of the house boats that lined the ancient waterway. Few words had been exchanged.

"Let's sit down," Patrick suggested and pointed to a stone bench. They headed over and sat down.

Robin put her foot on her knee and pulled off her shoe and began rubbing her foot. Patrick pushed her hand away and took over the task.

"Thank you." Robin leaned her head back and groaned in delight. He picked up her other leg and put them both in his lap. He took off her other shoe and began giving it the same tender, loving care.

"One of the perks of being my girlfriend is my amazingly gifted hands."

Robin let out a bark of laughter and looked at him levelly. "You sure do think a lot of yourself." She shook her head. "I don't know how I got sucked in to that."

Patrick beamed and waggled his eyebrows at her.

"Girlfriend and boyfriend, huh?" she tilted her head.

"Are you going to fight it?"

She shook her head. "I'll probably always worry on some level, about your health, about leaving you, but I won't run." He didn't answer, just brushed his fingers over her legs. She looked down for a moment. "Do you think we were fated to find each other?"

"Fate? I'm not sure I believe in that." He paused for a moment and then licked his lips. "But if it exists this must be it. From the moment you stormed into my O.R. you've turned my life upside down." He chuckled. "It's unrecognizable. My father. Where I work. Who I'm with. How I feel."

"I bet that was scary," Robin said quietly.

Patrick looked into the distance. "Not so much scary as unexpected. I wasn't looking for any of this, to be reconciled with my father, to throw out the little black book, to falling in love." He turned and looked at Robin. "Now, I can't imagine life without all of it."

"I know what you mean. I never thought I'd find love a third time in my life. And that it would be…" she broke off and studied his face, steeling her nerve. "That it would be so much more than anything I've had before."

"More than with Stone and Jason?" Patrick asked huskily.

"Stone was my first love. He was an amazing, kind, caring boy. What we had and went through was very adult, I'd like to think it would have lasted a lifetime if he didn't get sick, but that we didn't get a chance to find out. Jason…he gave me hope for a future, what we had was passionate, but there were too many differences, it couldn't have lasted for the long haul." She paused and grimaced at the use of that hated phrase – the one that had freaked Patrick out all those months ago.

"And me?" he asked.

"You're my equal. You see right through me and you take my ear-numbing sermons, impossible standards and walls and like me anyway."

"Love," he prompted.

"Love." She nodded.

Patrick slid his hand up her legs to touch the edge of her dress. "I see through to the amazing woman that I could love for all my days."

"Oh, geez!" Robin covered her face, flushing and battling tears at the unexpectedly romantic words.

"You were right, we are a lot alike. And you get me to do things no one else could." He grinned and slid a finger underneath her dress.

Robin removed her hands and gave him a knowing look.

"I didn't just mean in bed!" Patrick laughed. "But speaking of…how about we get a cab and head back to the big, empty hotel room and I show you just how lucky you are?"

Robin scooted forward until she was sitting in his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her breasts against his chest. "We'll see who the lucky one is." She pressed her lips against his and dived in for a heated kiss, not stopping until he moaned.

"We really need to get back to the hotel room!" he muttered against her neck, his breath coming in short pants. She could feel his arousal under her body.

"Who's lucky?" Robin teased.

Patrick laughed and stood up with her in his arms.

"My shoes!" Robin reached down, almost toppling them. He bent down until she could reach her shoes and with them dangling from her fingers he loped up the stairs to street level to search for a taxi.

* * *

The fell into the hotel room, their lips fused and hands moving expertly removing clothes. By the time they lurched onto the bed they were both only in their underwear. He pulled her up and under him until they reached the pillows. His hands skimmed over her body hungrily as she groped at him. She arched into him and he groaned and reached towards the bedside table and smoothly pulled out just what they needed. He pulled out a condom and pressed it into her hand and lift his hips. She pushed his underwear off and sheathed him and then pushed off her own panties. She gasped as she spread her legs wider and he surged into her, filling her.

Over and over they surged into each other. Their movements were frantic as they raced to a long overdue release.

"Say it," Patrick commanded as he felt her breaking apart under and around him.

"I love you!" She began to crest and fall. She saw stars, colors and Patrick's handsome face.

He cried out and pulsed into her. He buried his sweat soaked face against her hair. "I love you, Robin. Always."

"Always."

Then they began to make slow, sweet love. They glowed in the moonlight.

**THE END **


End file.
